KS5 IB English Language and Literature

English Language and Literature is a diploma subject within the International Baccalaureate Careers Programme (IBCP) provision we offer at key stage 5.

The course can be studied at either standard or higher level. Higher level involves the study of additional texts; a comparative rather than individual study in the exam; and a critical essay.

The study of the texts produced in a language is central to an active engagement with language and culture and, by extension, to how we see and understand the world in which we live. A key aim of the course is to encourage students to explore and question the meaning generated by language and texts. Helping students to focus closely on the language of the texts they study and to become aware of the role of each text’s wider context in shaping its meaning is central to the course.

In addition, students will develop skills of textual analysis and the understanding that texts, both literary and non-literary, can be seen as autonomous yet as products of the culture, society and historical period from which they originate.

The course comprises four parts—two relate to the study of language and two to the study of literature:

Part 1: Language in Cultural Context

Texts are chosen from a variety of sources, genres and media. There are no set texts so we have the flexibility to study things as diverse as a Daily Telegraph obituary and Swift’s ‘A Modest proposal’.

Part 2: Language and Mass Communication

Texts are chosen from a variety of sources, genres and media. For example, print adverts, song lyrics, news articles, political speeches.

Part 3: Literature - Texts and Contexts

Standard Level: Two texts, one of which is a text in translation and one written in English. We study The Handmaid’s Tale and Death and the Maiden.

Higher Level: Three texts, one of which is a text in translation and one written in English, along with a free choice. We study The Handmaid’s Tale and Death and the Maiden. The free choice text is flexible and changes depending on cohort.

Part 4: Literature - Critical Study

Standard Level: Two texts, both of which are chosen from the prescribed list of authors

We study Othello and The World’s Wife (a collection of poetry by Carol Ann Duffy)

Higher Level: Three texts, all of which are chosen from a prescribed list of authorsWe study Othello and The World’s Wife (a collection of poetry by Carol Ann Duffy). The free choice text is flexible and changes depending on cohort. This year we will look at A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch by Solzhenitsyn

Assessment

Standard Level (SL):

Paper 1 Exam (SL): Analysis of 1 text - 1hr 30 mins 25%

Paper 2: Literature Exam (SL)

In response to one of six questions students write an essay based on both the literary texts studied in part 3. - 1hr 30 mins 25%

Written task 20%

Students produce at least three written tasks based on material studied in the course.

Students submit one written task for external assessment. -20%

Individual Oral Commentary – a recorded spoken essay on an extract taken from one of the texts studied in part 4 - 15%

Further oral activity

Students complete at least two further oral activities, one based on part 1 and one based on part 2. One is submitted. - 15%

Higher Level (HL):

Paper 1 Exam (HL): Comparative Analysis of two Texts - 2 hrs 25%

Paper 2: Literature Exam (HL)

In response to one of six questions students write an essay based on at least two of the literary texts studied in part 3. - 2 hrs 25%

Written tasks

Students produce at least four written tasks based on material studied in the course.

Students submit two of these tasks for external assessment. (20 marks for each task)

One of the tasks submitted must be a critical response to one of the prescribed

questions for the HL additional study. - 20%

Individual Oral Commentary – a recorded spoken essay on an extract taken from one of the texts studied in part 4 - 15%

Further oral activity

Students complete at least two further oral activities, one based on part 1 and one based on part 2 of the course. - 15%